Oll Person had really been about a bit, as well as the verdun reference he had also fought under napoleon in a very famous battle (which name sadly escapes me atm) and I think even older battles than that (why am I thinking egypt? :s)
One of my fav HH novels, flight of the eisenstein has at the beginning a quote from einstein except that it is attributed to a scientist called Eisenstein. Obviously 38k years can change a name a bit :P
(see also how shakespear has had multiple references under various names :P)
EDIT: I believe it was the battle of Austerlitz